Sill cadre saves life; receives Soldier's Medal

By Leah Lauterberg, Fort Sill CannoneerOctober 10, 2014

Support for service
1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Staff Sgt. Jon King stands with his wife, Andrea King (left), and mother, Linda King (right), at an award ceremony Oct 7. King's family has shown support and dedication throughout his 18 years of service in the Army and were proud to attend such a pr... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Job well done
2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Lt. Col. Fidel Ruiz, 1st Battalion, 40th Field Artillery commander, congratulates Staff Sgt. Jon King during an award ceremony Oct 7 here. King was presented with the Soldier's Medal for his actions April 14 when he saved the life of a Basic Combat T... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Award ceremony
3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Soldier's Medal
4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT SILL, Okla. -- There are some dates that we remember all our lives, and for Staff Sgt. Jon King, C Company, 434th Field Artillery Detachment, April 14 is one those.

On that day, he saved not only his own life, but the life of a Fort Sill Basic Combat Training Soldier during what should have been routine training at the Sgt. 1st Class Tony Burris Hand Grenade Complex.

King's lightning fast reaction, calmness under pressure, and missile-like agility prevented possible loss of life.

For his courage and heroism, King was awarded the Soldier's Medal during a ceremony Oct. 7 here.

The medal came from the need to recognize acts of heroism and bravery during peacetime. Equivalent to the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, Airman's Medal and Coast Guard Medal, the Soldier's Medal is highest honor a Soldier can receive for an act of valor in a noncombat situation. It is held to be equal to or greater than the level which would have justified an award of the Distinguished Flying Cross in combat.

Maj. Gen. John Rossi, Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill commanding general, presented the award to King.

"I am ecstatic to be here for this, this is really something. I've been around a little while and had the opportunity to present many awards, but this is the first time I've ever presented the Soldier's Medal. In fact, this is the first time I've ever been to a ceremony where I've seen the Soldier's Medal presented. Just to let you know how rare this is," he said.

The medal's uniqueness is seen in the numbers. During operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and New Dawn combined, over 500,000 Army Commendation medals were awarded, but only 154 Soldier's medals.

Rossi spoke how he was reminded of the Army Values when thinking about this incident and of two in particular.

"The first one is Selfless Service to put the welfare of the nation, the Army and your subordinates before your own. The second one is Personal Courage to face fear, danger, or adversity; physical or moral. I'm not sure there's an act that would better embody those two specifically, than what you've done," he said to King.

"More importantly, other than the medal to have on your chest and the plaque to hang on your wall, what you did for a couple of hundred Soldiers that day reinforced what we stand for. There's a few hundred Soldiers that day who are going to tell this story for the rest of their lives and say, 'Let me tell you what my sergeant, our sergeant, did for me, for our platoon, for our company, and what a sergeant means in the Army.' This is an unbelievable feat," Rossi said.

"I've been in for a long time so it's good that even up higher, they look out for you" said King. "My wife at home looked it up to see how rare the Soldier's Medal is and even at work we talk about how rare it is. It is good that everyone can recognize all that we do. My wife and my mother, they're proud of me. My girls ... they kind of had another take on it because dad was 'about to go,' but other than that they are pretty much proud of it."

Reflecting back upon that day, King said his first thought was to get out of the pit as training protocol dictates.

"But, then as I turned to my left, I saw the Soldier still laying on the ground, so I threw that (thought) out the window and was just looking for the grenade. I'm not sure how much time had went by so my next thought was just to drop it over the wall, because if I had thrown it, it would have air-bursted on us, so I dropped it (over the wall), got down as fast as I could and covered the Soldier. It went off about a second later," he said.

King said dying didn't occur to him until later when he had the chance to reflect back upon how the situation could have been worse. He added his actions were a reflection of the Army Values, and how having them ingrained over time, during deployments and dealing with combat situations, they become automatic.

Training procedures haven't changed, but King said the cadre who work at the range are more aware of training the Soldiers.

If those Soldiers include some from other countries, drill sergeants make sure all have a better understanding of what goes on before they enter the pit.

"We've been doing it for so long and I've been here for three and a half years, then three years down the line (an incident) actually happens, so the rarity of it happening is not really there that much, so we haven't really changed that much," he said.

King has not spoken with the Basic Combat Training Soldier since the day after the incident, but said the Soldier was able to graduate with the rest of his class and has since moved on. King and his family have moved on as well.

"It's the every day life of an 11 Bravo, my wife says. She's gone through five deployments with me so she knows. She just didn't expect it being home."

King recently made the promotion list for sergeant first class and said he is looking foward to where his Army career will take him next.

Related Links:

Army.mil: Stories of Valor

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